Weekend Coffee Share; September Wrap Up!

On October 1, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share20 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I can’t believe its the last day of September and we have moved into Fall! I do think this is my favorite time of year. Oh wait, I do love Spring too ~ no, no, I think FALL WINS! There is just something special about the turning of this season as we cool down as the weather changes and we head into the winter months. Here where I live the winter is extremely mild and there is so many fun things to do as well. As you know I love being outside and I am very fortunate to be able to ride my horses all year round. This month started out hot which is typical and we are now seeing some much cooler weather as we head into October which makes me smile! 😀

Earlier this month my daughter, hubby and I visited President Reagan’s Library in Simi Valley. It is almost exactly half way to my daughter’s house up north. So she drove down and we drove up and met there on a beautiful Sunday morning. They had a WWII Exhibit there which was leaving in early October and we have been wanting to visit this library for a long time. We spent most of the time seeing and reading all about Ronald Reagan’s life as we toured the museum which left not as much time for the WWII event. We did walk through it and it was put together well. I only took photos to share of the Library on this beautiful day (no photos of WWII exhibit).

My most favorite thing is the horse lover of not only Ronald Reagan but of her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth and so I just have to share these iconic photos that they had on display, so beautiful. May they both rest in peace. ❤

*My daughter as President! I Love this! Haha!*

They had mock ups of so many things including the oval office. It was so educational learning all about his young life and into his political career. I remember him well as President of course, and I knew he had a ranch in Simi Valley. But I didn’t know how much of a ranch and horse lover he was until I visited the library. He had a whole bunch of saddles and belt buckles which were gifted to him by famous political leaders and others that gave him the belt buckles. Some buckles were so huge, just for display I am sure. Here is a few photos.

The belt buckles are all along the bottom of this four sided display. There were plaques explaining where the saddles came from and I had to take a photo of the jumping saddle plaque. Not only is that my discipline of riding (I use to show Hunter/Jumpers) but I noticed he had a horse named Sergeant Murphy! That is so cool, since I have a Murphy too! I know I am silly, but fun to have little connections none the less. 😀

This was definitely a highlight Air Force One and Marine one overlooking Simi Valley all enclosed in a giant hanger type area all built around the airplane and helicopter. It was seamlessly added to the library and they show photos of how the plane was disassembled and towed up the hill to its resting sight. Boeing put it all back together and it is opened to tour the inside of both. It is really amazing and VERY COOL to walk through where President’s and many important people sat and did their work for our country. They had a kind of musty smell inside as they are both well over 30 years old. Air Force One served all US presidents until George W. Bush and was retired in 2001.

*My daughter taking a photo of the amazing view!*

I couldn’t resist taking a photo of my daughter taking a panoramic photo of Simi Valley. The library sits on top of a hill with a breathtaking view. I love taking candid photos when I can and thought this was a good way to end my share of this beautiful tribute and wonderful library. We have another library very close to where I live. It is President Nixon’s Library which is located in Yorba Linda. I actually drive by it every day I go to work. I have visited his library many years ago and it is not as large as President Reagan’s. At President Nixon’s Library it is located at the house where he was born. The house is still there and has been turned into the museum. I remember well the day President Nixon was brought in to be buried at this library as they had a big presence on the freeway as they drove him through and oddly enough we had a hail storm blow through on this day. So strange, I’ll never forget that day. We lived across town about 10 miles from Yorba Linda at that time.

How is your coffee? do you need a refill, or are you drinking tea? I decided to get a refill with my favorite sweet Italian creamer and I have some small donuts for a snack. Lets go outside as it is a beautiful weekend. I can’t believe we are heading into October, and as we say goodbye to September I will look back at some important things with my horses. I made a dental appointment with my vet with my young horse Murphy. He needed a tooth pulled, called a wolf tooth it sits right in front of his first molars and in his case it was at least an inch or so more forward than normal. (He should have had 2 one on each side of his mouth, but the right side no tooth descended which is considered normal. There are horses that do not have wolf teeth, my mare Chloe was born with no wolf teeth.)

This tooth was interfering with the bit he has in his mouth when I ride him and I will say he is much happier when I ride him now. He was drugged up so he stood good for the vet and they gave pain meds afterwards so he stays comfortable. He also got his teeth floated, which means they use a tool to smooth out the sharp edges that can occur from chewing on his molars. This will keep his teeth healthy.

*The vet and his assistant working on Murphy’s sharp points on his molars. He was a good boy!*

I wanted to ride Murphy more often than I ended up riding him through the month of September, but we had some unbearable heat. It also can get really busy at the barn and so there were many days so many people came early to beat the heat that I just couldn’t fit in a ride. I have to remember I am in no hurry with Murphy and we have plenty of time together and since he is so young I am just going to take one day at a time. I am happy that I rode him yesterday and then again this morning. 2 days in a row! YAY! I have to remember to stay positive and on the days I do not ride I try and do some meaningful ground work with him. I also have my other horse Chloe to take care of and her and I head out on the trails when it is crowded at the barn. So in the end I ride just about every day, it just might be Chloe instead of Murphy!

I am having a ton of fun with this cross-stitch project I started in September! I love the colors and the quote. I have this really cool cross-stitch book full of patterns called Cross Stitch For The Earth, 20 patterns. They have some small designs that I can stitch up for gifts too! This fulfills my creative mind as I am addicted to creating something with my hands. Whether its cross-stitch or crochet, its so fun to create!

I better wrap this up as it is getting pretty long. I really wanted to do a wrap up post of September and am looking forward to October. I so enjoyed having coffee with you today and I hope you have a fabulous week (and month ahead). I have to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffee share hook up and let me know what’s been happening in your world!

Staying Busy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; August ~ Fun Month!

On August 28, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Welcome to my coffee share! I just love this bearded Iris and wanted to feature it again.*

How can it be August 28th? The weeks have just flown by and it has been a busy but fun summer. As I am writing this it is really overcast outside which I am a bit surprised but if the marine layer is thick enough to head inland where we are at it will stick around for at least half the day. That will be today, much cooler and cloudy, a nice reprieve from the hot summer days. I have to say that we have been lucky this summer, so far it has not breeched 100F (38C) and we have had summers where we have hit 115F (46C) that was years ago, now that’s stinking HOT! I think we will be okay this year and just have the usual 90’s most days. We do not have humidity here, I like to call it a dry heat even though we sweat like crazy working outside with the horses. It cools off very nicely every evening, I can’t complain.

I started out this month of August heading to my family in Arizona. It was my granddaughter’s 7th birthday. It was so much fun to be there to celebrate with the family. I can’t believe she is 7 years old and she is heading into first grade. She has since started school and her dad told me she LOVES first grade, that just makes me smile. 😀 My grand daughter is so smart, funny and quite the character. She’s a wonderful older sister and with her baby brother 2 1/2 years old, I know there’s always a little trouble with sharing. He’s starting to talk more each day which helps with communication between them. They have my heart, love them so much! ❤

She is so adorable as we sang happy birthday with most of the kitchen lights out and the glow of the candles lit so bright! Baby brother was trying to blow out her candles, silly guy and after she made a wish and blew out her candles I took her photo with the cake. My flash went off which caught her by surprise, so cute! She also has poses for her photos which we do not ask her to do of course, and I just giggle as she is so adorable. I will be saying adorable a million times in this post because that’s just the best description. I miss them so very much!!!

*She doesn’t like her hair brushed so I took her photo to show her the pretty braid!* ❤

We headed to the water park nearby the next day which the kids just love! Me and my selfies, these turned out so great and I went crazy and took one with everyone who went including my daughter and my son. The only one who didn’t come was my daughter-in-law, I feel bad I don’t have a selfie with her and didn’t get one on this visit. The selfie with my grandson is now my background photo on my phone. ❤ I may switch it out soon with the one with my granddaughter! I change them often depending on my mood. 😀

My son and daughter selfies, love this so much! My heart is full and I am feeling blessed to have such a wonderful family and am so happy to be fortunate to have these two grand children who make us laugh and are so full of energy and love. I have lots of photos that I took but wanted to share other events for this month. I can now see the advantage of sharing weekly because I can dedicate the whole post to one event. Since it’s been a month I will continue on and share my horsey photos as my horsey sister arrived just over a week ago. Her son’s birthday was this month and so she flew down from Idaho and stayed a week. We had a ton of fun as she helped me with my young horse Murphy and we rode out on trail with my other horse Chloe. She was able to ride a friends horse with me on the trails.

*Murphy enjoying a turn out in the arena!*

*My sister riding Murphy! He is doing great and learning so much!*

As I share this month I am thinking of how fast this year has gone by so far. I am terrible at planning things but am thinking I should try and be more conscience of this and try and plan more for the future. I tend to fall into a rut of day to day things and need to think beyond the moment. I blame my lack of planning on being a middle child. I tend to just do things as they come up as one sibling or another make plans and/or my daughter who is the planner of the family makes plans and thankfully I can usually join her or she invites me and her dad. We have planned to meet at President Reagan’s library in 2 weeks as we’ve never been and they have a WW2 presentation there that will end in October. The library is about half way to my daughter’s house so the plan is each of us driving there and meeting up for the tour. I am looking forward to this and am so thankful my daughter is helping plan and getting us there!

This month has been full of events. Our 38th wedding anniversary was August 19th which I almost forgot about but I took that day off to add to the days to hang out with my sister. My hubby and I went out to dinner and he is so sweet and got me some gifts and I got him a sweet card. I took a photo I will share.

*He is so very sweet and incredibly thoughtful! The box has a beautiful necklace with double hearts and heartfelt saying!*

Why am I so bad at gift giving in general? I would gladly give away money, my shirt off my back or anything one could want if I can afford it. But I can stress for days and not know what to get and I rarely get him anything for our anniversary as I have no idea what to do, I am serious. I am horrible and I got him a sweet card and that’s it and I will ask him if he needs anything but we have been married for so many years the words romantic don’t strike me as being a great definition of how I feel. I LOVE him with all my heart and I know I am the glue that is our family unit and all I have to offer up is the love and consistent “being here” as I will always be there for my hubby and my family. I guess that is my gift.

I considered removing the last paragraph as I am embarrassed I can’t be more giving in the gift department to show my appreciation and love through material things. I can’t be alone in this world so I am going to leave all of this mumbo jumbo in and say that as I try and figure out the “why” I am like this as I feel rather selfish to not buy him anniversary gifts. I do not expect him to do what he does for me as I would be just as happy and never blink an eye if he just bought me a card and we had dinner out. He almost always gets me these gifts. He got me Jade gifts for our 35th anniversary, me? I got him nothing, zip, zero, nadda….. A big hug and a kiss to thank him! Haha, it is what it is and I am who I am….. Sharing myself to ya’ll wasn’t my plan this weekend. But there it is! 😀

I’ll end with these two photos. My sister riding Murphy! I think I may get a print of this to send to her for Christmas. Or I may make her a photo book with all the photos I have taken this past year of her and Murphy. I thought I would try a selfie with Murph on her last ride. Haha, it turned out pretty cute! Thank you for visiting and having coffee with me today. As I think about this month of August, there are a ton of birthdays. My granddaughter 8/3, my brother 8/4, my nephew 8/14 and my sister’s 8/23 and 8/26. With my anniversary thrown in there 8/19 you can see its a crazy month of celebrations. Most of them were virtual but still, no wonder I have been busy!

I hope you all have had a wonderful August and I am looking forward to the Fall as September is days away. Thank you Natalie for hosting the weekend coffee share link up and I hope you all have a great week ahead.

Loving Family Cowgirl Grandma,

~Diana ❤

July 23rd, Thankful For The Summer Breeze!

On July 23, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share33 Comments

*My summer rose bloom! It smells heavenly too!*

Welcome to my weekend coffee or tea share where I enjoy sharing what’s been happening here in Southern Cali where I live. It is definitely summer time here as the heat is on and we are hoping for a break but there isn’t one coming any time soon. I am thankful for the summer breeze! It almost always shows up every afternoon and it feels so good and helps you cool off. I had to look it up as I was pretty sure there was a song about the “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts and it’s a nice relaxing song to listen to on these summer days, I do date myself!

As I share a tall glass of ice tea with you (I have lemonade and we can make it an Arnold Palmer if you’d like!) I decided I would share my cross stitch I have been working on the last month or so, I am nearing completion and this is my winter scene. This is the last one I needed to complete for my 4 seasons pattern that I started many years ago and am determined to finish. (I’ll share the photo of the other seasons here too.) I am planning on making my first quilt with these cross stitches as the star or center pieces of the quilt which will be the size of a wall hanging or small throw blanket. If I run into trouble I’ll have to have my sister’s help me as they are the expert quilt makers in the family!

I have a confession and that is this coffee share I started late last weekend and never finished it so I thought I would just add to it and finish and post it this weekend. I took the above cross stitch photo on July 2nd and I have done a lot more since then so here is a current photo of it today. I am working on the bottom portion as you can see the cart the horse is pulling, a sideways tree and some snow texture stitching. 😀

Some of the funny colored shapes will eventually be people and things really become defined when I am done with the stitching and then I will outline everything and that will make everything pop and look completed. It is so fun working on these projects! I know it is another way that I can relax and create and keep my brain thinking as I count away. I am hoping this and other things I do in my life will help keep me healthy. What do you do for fun or for relaxation? I know many enjoy their gardens, and they are a wonderful source of healthy cardio work and relaxation too! And others enjoy being outside exercising. Here are the other seasons. (Click on photos for full view).

I am motivated to finish my winter themed cross stitch because I was gifted this last Christmas some really cool cross stitch pattern books I had on my wish list. I will be diving into these new patterns when I finish here and I won’t start working on the quilt until I feel inspired or motivated to sew. Maybe I will dive into it sooner, I just take things one day at a time and see how I feel when starting new projects. I know my “in the house” projects I call them are not cardio, but it’s important to have the relaxation to help lower blood pressure when relaxing. I get all my cardio from the stables and I like to call the barn my outside gym! I love my segue as I want to share my horses this weekend. My last share about the barn was how busy I have been and thankfully it has calmed down now and I am not having to take care of so many horses!

I am having so much fun with Murphy! Him and I are really bonding and he is always excited to see me which to me indicates he enjoys our time together. He is vocal about this nickering as I arrive! 😀 Today I started some liberty training with him which basically means working in the arena with him lose and following my lead as I ask him to work with me free or at liberty. I also have thought long and hard about his training and I decided to introduce R+ training which is Positive reinforcement (+R) is a form of learning that occurs when a desired behavior is rewarded. It’s based on the idea that reinforced or rewarded behavior will be repeated out of want for a reward. I have found that Murphy would rather not do much of anything and although his defiance is not bad (he does not bite, rear, kick or do anything nasty) on the contrary he is very sweet but can be a bit stubborn. He is also very food driven! I have already started to introduce treats in a meaningful way and he has not started biting and/or is not aggressive at all. He has remained very respectful and sweet which is perfect for this kind of training! I’m very excited!!

He loves to splash and play in the water bucket and every time I see him and want to video he stops and comes to visit me instead. I LOVE you Murphy, but I just want to get some water fun action!

You can see how wet he got and all the water he splashed all around the bucket as he practically emptied half of hit splashing away! Haha, he’s so funny and has so much fun in this summer heat! With horses when you are with them whether it is every day (yep, I go every single day to see them and usually work with them) or every other day or once a week you are always learning and working together as a team. You should be growing your bond with them and mine grows each day. I have this wonderful bond with my other horse Chloe. Her and I are a team that just gets stronger every day. The trust the two of us have in each other is hard to describe. It would be like the trust you have with your best favorite dog or cat, it’s strong and we enjoy each others company. I am so grateful and thankful Murphy and I are bonding like Chloe but as I learn and grow reading/attending/watching other trainers I am growing and am doing more with him than I did when Chloe was his age. IT’S SO MUCH FUN!

*I am enjoying riding him and working with him in Western Dressage!*

I have a video I made all by myself by propping up my camera but since I don’t have a Pivo I ride out of frame a lot and so I decided not to share here. I will ask someone to video one of my rides soon. It is fun to see his progress. He is learning so much, a little each ride. I don’t ride him every day as he is young and growing and I don’t want to bore him to death. PLUS as I have recently shared I can be busy and so I usually ride one horse one day and then the next I ride the other. This is working out great! Happy horses means a happy Mom. Now that I want to incorporate R+ training, it is all started and performed while I am on the ground, we call this ground work with horses. So on the days I do not ride Murphy we will be working on things together which will be stimulating for him and I. Anyways, I enjoy learning new things as well and there is plenty of YouTube videos out there to visit for ideas. Can I get you a refill? I know I can ramble on and on sometimes! Haha!

*He almost always rolls after a rinse or bath in his dry shavings! You can see them all over his back!*

*This was from a few weeks ago! All that I am sharing is from this month of July!*

I am so thankful we have a huge pepper tree that has grown so tall now that it provides a lot of morning shade where we tack up our horses. This is why this photo is in the shade. I like it’s soft tones and you can see part of the tree in the upper right corner. Near noon the shade is almost gone except for closest to the tree. As July seems to be flying by we are getting closer to my granddaughter’s birthday August 3rd. She will be turning 7 years old this year and I can’t believe it! I am so excited to be heading to Arizona to help her and family celebrate my sweet girls birthday. YAY! This time I will be flying there!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I thank you kindly for visiting with me today. I am always grateful for all the support I get from fellow friends, family and the blogging community. I enjoy sharing when I can and so I will get this wrapped up and get back to stitching. I am getting super close to completing my project. I’ll have to pass the ice tea and say how is your (week) or weekend going?

Loving Our Summer Breeze Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; Summer Reminiscing!

On July 10, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share30 Comments

*A beautiful magnolia bloom I took on my trail ride last week!*

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or maybe some tea? I made some blueberry muffins and they are delicious. I am enjoying summer. It has been a bit hot but we usually get a nice breeze by noon so being outside has not been that bad. I am also thankful it cools off at night usually into the 60’sF (15’sC) and so in the mornings it is really beautiful and it takes awhile before the heat sets in (up in the 90’sF) and I think this is because we are not to far from the ocean. My poor family in Arizona, this last weekend it has been averaging 110F (43C) and at night it only has been getting down into the 90’sF (32’sC). Now that is really hot! It is truly a dry heat with little to no humidity but now that I think about it I am happy we were unable to make the move to Arizona. I miss my family there immensely but I know here in California is better for me and my horses and not too hot!

My hubby has been working around the house and he keeps busy with the yards and house upkeep. I know I have shared before that he built a saloon in our backyard. He originally was building a storage unit, 10X20ft but since we live in a horsey town he decided to turn it into a saloon and so it is decorated inside and out like one and my kids through high school enjoyed spending time out there and had small parties there too. The saloon is mostly a storage unit now, just half full of boxes and holds some saloon furniture. The thing that excited me was I totally forgot that we had purchased a small wall piano for $50 from a yard sale years ago that fit perfect in our saloon! My hubby was working out back on the saloon cleaning up the dust and spiders and so I went back there to see him before I went to work and my heart leapt as I saw the piano! YAY! Here’s a few photos (click on photos for full view!)

Its in good shape and plays fine. It needs a tuning but truly there is only a few keys that sound tinny but it actually plays better than my old parlor grand piano that really fell apart and it became unplayable. Currently we do not have a place for it to be in our house so if I have a yearning to play, I will have to sit out in our saloon! Haha, that’s fine with me. I just miss playing and being an accomplished pianist hearing music that we can impart with our own hands just brings joy to my heart! The action of the keys are not the best, that’s okay as it sounds like an old timey piano. So FUN!!

*My sweet girl BZ, my hubby named her so many years ago!*

The photo with my sweet girl and all the chairs is looking out from the saloons porch. That barn in the photo is the back of a storage unit built like a barn that you buy from Lowes or Home Depot and it came with the property when we bought here. My husband decorated the back finding that “Stables” sign here in town. As a matter of fact so much of the decorations on our saloon are from farm or ranch properties that had yard sales or items with “free”. There is one more photo I can share of the front, but I wasn’t planning on spending so much time out in our saloon. It is really cool though, eh?

Shh, don’t tell my hubby that I am sharing his photos with the world. (He’s fine actually) Haha, I’m thinking he looks pretty dang good for turning 70 this year. He is eight years older than me and is doing great! He has worked so hard all his life and is now partly retired, is a Vietnam Veteran and the best hubby, father and best friend. I will say since I am on the subject that I can see why marriages change as we get older. Things are definitely different now than with little babies running around and then teen-age kids, and now they are grown adults with kids of their own. My goodness, I never wanted to dwell on aging and I am so thankful we are super active (I still work full-time) and as you know I do so much with my horses. 😀

Can I get you a refill? As I am writing this post I started out wanting to share summer and as always my horses which I will save for another post. I absolutely love it when I start to write and as the words flow from my mind to my fingers I end up sharing a subject that is near and dear to me and I am feeling rather nostalgic and so this is what I want to share today! It is so much fun for me! The next two photos are photos of a photo that my hubby came across going through some photo boxes. We have tons of photos we need to go through eventually. These caught my eye and so I’ll share here!

My son Harrison with Darth Vader. He is now 33 years old and a Dad himself. We are huge Star Wars fans so it was fun to run across this photo. That lightsaber he is holding looks like it is as long as Harrison is tall almost! Haha! And the second photo is such a neat photo of my niece Allie who came to visit back in the 90’s and I am on horseback as we ride around my sister’s backyard. I just love the accidental lighting on our smiling faces. These kinds of photos are just the best! I shared these photos with them on my social media and it was so wonderful to reminisce with them. And to think there is hundreds of photos to go through and I am sure there will be more gems to find.

Thank you so much for visiting my coffee share and I am just making it into the link up. I appreciate you visiting and I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! 😀

Feeling nostalgic Mom and Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; 4th of July Weekend!

On July 3, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share22 Comments

*My pretty honeysuckle blooms which are so tiny but so fragrant!*

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am having a nice cup of joe with my favorite creamer, sweet Italian cream. I can’t believe it is July! Where did June go? it just zipped on by seemingly so fast. I had a busy month last month and I am hoping to slow down a little and enjoy this month. For those of us here in the states, this weekend is July 4th weekend ~ Happy 4th of July! ❤ I am so thankful for the long weekend and an extra day off this next week. We always barbeque which millions of American’s do, and since it is summer here it’s always a great way to celebrate!

Did I mention already how busy I have been? Ah, yes, I think I bring it up all the time. I am not sure how I fit in all that I do and my life just seems to get busier. My “busier” has been at the barn where I board my two horses. It seems that when there is other boarders that need help with their horses, my name comes up. I am honored and deeply grateful that so many trust me to take care of their horses, but it is getting to the point where I am getting super busy with many to care for especially this month. (I will say that it is difficult for me to say No! Haha, so I do this to myself to a certain degree!) I have 6 horses for the first week of July (2 of them are my own) and after next week that care will go down to 5 horses. I can thankfully take turns getting them out and exercised which means I do not have to handle all of them all on the same day. It will put a kink into my riding on some days, I may be getting less sleep so I can get up earlier to fit in all that I want to do each day. We will see how this goes. 😀

*Miss Chloe after a nice ride this weekend!*

Since I am on the subject of horses I thought I would share some photos. I have been able to ride a lot out on the trails with Chloe. I am riding my other horse Murphy but mostly in the arena as I want him to learn in there more basic riding commands so we are safe together. I am hoping to get him out on the trails some this summer. I want to partner up with a friend as it can be scary on the trails for a young horse in our town all by himself. He is very brave and the trail riding I have done this past year with him was always with other horses. I knew he needed more arena training but wanted to see what kind of “brain” he had which just means that the trails I have ridden him on were short, not far from home and he had a good “brain” and was very sensible and kind.

Now that Murphy has turned 4 years old I am upping the demands slowly and asking him to do things that will make our partnership together more cohesive and safe. He should know how to walk, trot and canter when I cue him to do this and just as important to “whoa” or stop when I ask. His whoa he is getting better at especially at the walk and trot but he still needs work at the canter. I am in no rush and have done more with him at the walk and trot, so that is why he is getting that down better. I wish I had more time to spend riding him and hence why I am a tiny bit frustrated with my time at the barn. Part of the issue is a friend fell off this last Friday. She owns 2 horses and has asked me to care for them as she recovers from the fall. She broke 2 ribs and hurt her back and so how can I say no? She doesn’t know another lady is going out of town for one week so I have already said yes to her for her horse. And I have another that I care for 2 days a week, the lady has paid me through to August for that horse care. It’s all good, it just is what it is at this time!

*Hi Murphy, we will do some fun riding this week I promise!*

He is such a handsome guy! He is so laid back, so calm and pleasing. I think he gets a little bored. Since my other horse Chloe is 18yrs old, I can just hop on and head out on the trail. My shortest trail ride is about 25 minutes, so it’s a total of almost an hour from getting her out and tacked up, out on trail and then I need to clean her up (which may be hosing her off if it’s hot) and get her put away. I then do Murphy. Or I do Murphy first and spend about an hour and a half with him and then I ride or turn out Chloe. I then have to fit in another turn out with some care to other horses that others have paid me for. My riding time gets cut into if say I eat breakfast out with hubby one or two mornings each week. Haha, I guess I have a full-time job and now a part-time job. My family can’t understand why I am at the barn every single day. (They kind of understand my obsession, but they have asked me why do I go every day?) Seriously, I NEVER miss a day unless I am out of town!! I am seriously that horse CRAZY! 😀 😀 😀

*Seriously though, how can you not love her sweet face and I want to give them the best care!*

*Heading down the trails on my sweet girl! The best exercise for her and joyful for me!*

As I am writing this I am realizing my horsey obsession has turned into a somewhat part-time job especially since I concede and help so many others. I am realizing I need to take back some control since it is eating into my horse riding time and if I am feeling frustrated because of this then it takes the fun out of my time at the barn. Talk about a juggling act! Sheesh! I am not old enough to retire because if I could retire then I could have this part-time horse care job. Something I will look forward to when that year comes to fruition. I am the type of person that tends to put the needs of others before my own, hence why I haven’t learned to say no very often (if ever) so the learning goes….. I need to be stronger, and put my needs first but for now I will just be very busy! Do you over extend yourself? or do for others to the point where it takes time away from your needs? I am curious as I can’t be alone! 😀

I’ll end with this sweet kitty. This is Evie, my daughter’s cat and she is so incredibly friendly. You know how I am with my crazy selfie photos, she was so fun to be with when I was visiting with my daughter in June. I had so much fun at the horse clinic and spending time with my daughter. She invited some friends over when I was there and we had an indoor barbeque on Sunday after I was done with the clinic. We had so much fun breaking bread and playing a card game. I have so enjoyed having coffee (or tea) with you this weekend and for filling you in on my busy schedule! Haha, it’s been crazy days and will stay that way for awhile!

Thank you Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare and if you would like to visit and read other shares you can click here! I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead.

Super Busy Crazy Horsey obsessed Gal,

~Diana ❤

Birthdays, Vacations, I can’t believe it’s June!

On June 11, 2022 By DianaIn Family is important, Living life, weekend coffee share24 Comments

Welcome to my weekend coffee share. Can I get you a cup of coffee or tea as we sit and chat? I have been one busy Mom, Grandma and cowgirl. I have been a bit under the weather as I returned from my visit to my family in Arizona at the end of May and have a head cold. My grandson was sick the week before and they thought was better but still had a bit of a cough. I wasn’t worried and would have still gone and visited even though I ended up sick too, I am getting better each day. I didn’t share last week because I haven’t been feeling great. Onward, as I have so much to share I hardly know where to begin!

How about birthday celebrations! My daughter-in-law and my son both have birthdays in May. We headed there for my sons birthday May 30th and had a ton of fun. My grandkids are growing up as my granddaughter will be turning 7 years old this August, she’s getting so BIG!! My grandson is just over 2 years old and is so smart and into everything. He is quite the handful but is as cute as can be and I cherish every minute I spend with these cutie patuties!

*Me and my selfies! I have to take them fast but they are so FUN! I’m a crazy Grandma!*

My daughter and other son joined me as we visited with the son that lives in Arizona. It was wonderful having all 3 of my grown kids together. My son in Arizona is the only one who has children and they may end up being my only grandchildren at least in the foreseeable future. That’s A-okay with me as I feel fortunate and very grateful for my beautiful family and grandkids!

My daughter with my grandson, isn’t he adorable? I couldn’t decide which photo to share of my daughter with Teddy so I just shared them both! And the center photo of my granddaughter who has the cutest smile. I think she has had so many photo’s taken of her that she often makes silly faces. I will share a silly selfie as she loves to make funny faces. What characters and what FUN!

This may end up being the last birthday celebration at my son’s house in Arizona as he has been applying to jobs in other states. We do not know what the future holds but I know he will do excellent as he grows with his career in Medical physics or Bioinformatics which is a growing field with technology and the medical field. He is currently working on his Master’s attending online at Stanford for Bioinformatics study. I am so proud of all he has accomplished as with all my children, I’m a proud mama!

How are you doing, can I get you a refill? I have gotten a fresh cup of iced coffee as it’s been pretty hot this last week and into this weekend. It hits the spot, I did not grow up drinking iced coffee as we just didn’t have such a thing. Now I LOVE iced coffee, haha, how things have changed! Now let’s see, where was I? In Arizona it was only really hot on the first day but Memorial day weekend had nice weather. We visited a mall and ate lunch at the Tikki Shack which was delicious. I took a few photos as we ate and walked around the outdoor mall. We spent most of our time at Barnes and Noble bookstore. 😀

Great memories and fun times with family. I could not ask for a better vacation and I am so appreciative of my children and all that they do for each other and for the family as a whole. I love them so much! ❤

Can you believe it is June? This year just seems to be flying by and I have been thinking a lot about my blogging and more like the lack of it as I have been rather absent lately. I am a creature of habit, and so with that I have my habits of the things I enjoy doing each day (and I have to squeeze in the things I don’t enjoy as much too, which is usually housework. Haha!) I do enjoy sharing and blogging but I feel like I have kind of lost my groove. I lost that “habit” of sitting down and writing! I use to think of things through my week that would stand out to me and I would say to myself, that would be fun to blog about. I think as I stepped back I lost that lust of thinking about what will I blog about today or this weekend, does that make sense?

I will say since I am writing about this that last year was a really tough year for me even though I had some real ups (the purchase/adoption of my beautiful Murphy) and some real downs (the loss of my sweet horse Zack and I did not write a blog about him but we put down our dog Drew as well). I also had some friendship problems that really hurt my feelings but the wounds have healed and I am much better now. I did not want to blog about these feelings, just too personal and I just needed to work through the emotions. I sometimes have worried that all I write about is happy cheerful stuff, like my life is so rosy and perfect when clearly it isn’t nor can it be….. BUT if you are an avid follower you know I like to stay as positive as I can and share smiles and laughter which in turn makes me happy. Sorry, I didn’t know I was going to write about all this but it has been weighing heavy on my mind! I feel much freer now! YAY!

This post makes me smile! I will end with Murphy and I am hoping to write another post tomorrow and it will be all about my horses. Next weekend I am going to attend a horse clinic at Monty Robert’s Flag Is Up Farm which is near Solvang, CA. It will be 3 days of clinic training with clinicians attending with Monty which includes the trainer I got Murphy from and I can’t wait to meet her in person! I am also really excited because I will be staying with my daughter as she lives nearby. I can’t wait to learn new and exciting horse training and so I won’t be sharing a post next weekend. I will share when I return.

I thank you all for reading and sharing coffee with me this weekend. I also want to thank you all for your support of my blogging whether I blog a little or a lot, you all are awesome! I want to thank Natalie for hosting the #weekendcoffeeshare, I so enjoy linking up and I will try and visit other coffee shares this weekend. Take care ya’ll!

Crazy Grandma horse lover forever,

~Diana ❤

P.S. I have been told from fellow bloggers that I can save on space on WP if I share videos from YouTube but I don’t have a YouTube channel, another password another site another something to manage. So I am slowly running out of space here on my blog for my photos and videos which in turn makes me stress about blogging and sharing as eventually I will run out of space! Haha, it’s always something!! I guess it’s time to get a YouTube channel, sigh….

Weekend Coffee Share; May 22, 2022

On May 22, 2022 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share23 Comments

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee, latte or tea? I just have to share my pretty blooms when I can and thought this pretty rose deserved the top spot today. This weekend is a special weekend as I continue to celebrate my horse Murphy entering into my life. This weekend a year ago is when he arrived in the big trailer van that delivered him from Oklahoma! I can’t believe it’s been a year as it seems like it just flew by, but it was filled with so much fun with my sweet horses. 😀

As I shared in my last post, I will be traveling to Arizona to visit my son and his family next weekend and I am SO EXCITED!! I can’t wait to see them all which includes my grandkids. I am also really excited because my daughter and other son will be joining us so all my grown children will be together. The only one staying home is my hubby who will be working and taking care of our animals. It’s all good as my hubby and I went to AZ in February to celebrate our grandson’s birthday. I thought I would put together this post as I won’t be posting anything next weekend.

*Murphy’s arrival one year ago this weekend! This was the first time we met in person, so crazy but exciting!!*

Happy anniversary to you Murphy! I can’t believe how much he has grown in this last year. Not only in size and has filled out with his weight, he has grown in maturity too. When he arrived one of the biggest things I noticed right away was how he did not appreciate humans in his stall while he was eating. He was fine with the people who cleaned his stall, but when he I gave him extra hay in a hay net (which is a netting that we use to slow down their eating. They have to pull hay through little square holes so the hay will last longer and it is more like grazing which they would do out in a field.) I gave him the space he wanted and did not brush or groom him in his stall. I could barely pet him or rub his neck because he would turn and nip at me and pin his ears. He clearly did not want to be bothered. He had just turned 3 and he was VERY protective of his food ~ he still is today but he is very polite and has learned I am not in his stall to take his food! ❤

He now let’s me groom him in his stall while he eats! YAY! And I am able to pick out his hoofs in his stall all while he munches on his hay. I do not have him tied up nor do I have a halter and lead rope on him. He is just a very content happy horse munching away while I care for him. What a sweetie, so smart and kind! A different horse (or more importantly) different attitude in the year in my care. I could not be happier! We have such a great bond and I know it will grow stronger every day and that’s so important for a good foundation, good horsemanship and friendship between horse and rider. 😀

*I feel so blessed and lucky to have Murphy in my life!*

I thought I would share this photo again of him eating and when I turn him out and I don’t ride him I will groom him in his stall. It took time and patience to get to this point but he is very trusting and understands now that I will not be taking any of his food. I know I explained all this, just thought I’d share this photo! It is these fun stepping stones of a young horse that is fun to gain their trust and see how they mature and grow!

I will wrap up this post as I am barely going to make it to add to the #weekendcoffeeshare linkup with Natalie. Thank you Natalie for hosting and I am happy I could join in even though it is the last minutes of the weekend. I hope you all have a wonderful week and thank you so much for visiting!

Happy Anniversary Weekend Crazy Horse Lady,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; March 27 ~ Staying Busy!

On March 27, 2022 By DianaIn Horse stories, Living life, weekend coffee share23 Comments

*Welcome to my weekend coffee share where we share what’s been happening in our lives!*

Welcome, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I have so much to share. This month of March has been full and busy. With my busy life comes hard work with my full-time job and of course my time spent at the barn with my two horses Miss Chloe and my young guy Murphy! I try and fit in so much including some relaxing time doing my crafting. I am either doing crochet projects or my cross-stitch. I am currently working on my cross-stitch and here is my completed project! I am also going to share the first 2 projects that is from my pattern book of seasons. I have now started on the Winter scene.

*I just finished this one which is Fall*

*This is Summer! I love all the colors, so fun to stitch up!*

I have been thinking about what I will do with these seasons once completed and I decided I am going to try and make a quilt throw or hanging. (The photos make them look like they are crooked on the edges but they aren’t, its just the material is not completely flat. I will rinse them with safe soap and water, let them dry and iron them flat before I sew.) I have never sewn a quilt before but have helped my sister and have a new book on quilt making for first time beginners that I got for Christmas. Since I have helped with many quilts my sister and I did together I am hoping I can make something pretty. I know it won’t be perfect, but then I am just hoping to get it all sewn together properly, haha! And not fall apart. I know all crafts take time to get down as practice makes perfect, or at least makes you better and more confident.

I’ve been wanting to put together a small quilt like a throw or wall hanging for a long time and now that I have these cross-stitch pieces I feel inspired and the timing is perfect since I received the really helpful quilt book since my sister’s do not live nearby any more. I figured if I run into any problems I can always call them or ask my good friend who sews. My bigger challenge is to learn how to use my sewing machine, haha! It’s always something!

Speaking of sister’s ~ this same sister that I use to sew with is also my riding partner and who I grew up riding horses with and she now lives in Idaho. She has been there now 7 years, we can’t believe how fast these years fly by. She was so excited to come and visit for a week and she stayed with her son nearby and she was over every day to help me with my horse Murphy. She and I have had tons of training with young horses and with many horse trainers over the years. Together we worked on some new things with Murphy and he is so smart and easy going it made our time together a blast! Here are some photos and videos of our week here in March! 😀

*I gave Murphy a bath the weekend before my sister arrived! He’s so handsome!* ❤

*I also gave Miss Chloe a bath as it was so nice and warm! She’s so beautiful and I do Love her so much!*

*My sister on Murph (click on photo for full view)*

My sister was here this month for a full week and I am so grateful for all her help. She flew down which gave her more days to visit. I am planning on sending her videos as I go and we have already talked since she’s left as she has remembered a few more things I can work on with Murphy. Training a horse takes time and she and I are so happy that I am in no hurry and I am giving him plenty of time to grow into his body as he is 3 years old. He turns 4 beginning of May which I am excited about. He is still growing but I feel like he is pretty balanced for a 3 year old. I know with this training and riding he and I are getting stronger, he is so much FUN to ride! 😀

Murphy and I trotting in the arena. We are working on softening with his head and neck and moving forward into the bridle. We are also working on circles. The first circle he was going a bit fast but has a better steady trot for the second circle. It is all a work in progress and I am so proud of him!

I thought long and hard last year when I purchased (adopted) my young horse Murphy, can I start and work a young horse again? I knew I would have to get into shape and get my riding legs and upper body stronger and I am slowly accomplishing this. Riding up on a horse like I am in the video I shared is very aerobic, and to those who don’t ride you probably do not realize how much work it is as we make it look like we aren’t doing much. I can get so out of breath that sometimes I need to take a break before Murphy needs a break. I was riding him yesterday and I wanted him to stay steady with his head down and I was getting more out of breath with each stride. I’m getting stronger each ride. Riding the trails on my other horse Chloe is not very aerobic at all since all we are doing is walking. It feels great getting into shape! I LOVE YOU MURPHY! He is the best gym and this is my most favorite exercise!! ❤

On to my trail rides and Miss Chloe! She is a trooper and her and I go out alone often. I will partner up when there is another rider at the barn ready when we are to head out. I have to fit in Murphy and Chloe in my mornings and some days I have time to ride both of them and other days, it’s one or the other. Chloe and I have been together now for 16 years and so we have years of trail rides under our belts. She is trail savvy, its what we do and owning and riding horses is all about repetition and consistency as they are smart and willing as long as they feel safe. We are all about safety in all that we do and so we have a great time together! Here is a video I took just this last week. It was a few days after my sister left and a beautiful day. We are expecting a very rainy day tomorrow which I mention in the video. I hope you enjoy!

Such a lovely day for a trail ride in my hometown in California!

So much FUN! I love the trails but I also love the arena riding and training too! I have no doubt that Murphy will be a wonderful all around horse eventually. I am in no hurry with him and when you take the time they need, they turn out so well rounded and confident. I’m excited for our future together.

I’m so happy you visited today. I know I am not sharing as often as I once did but this is working out better for me and my busy life. I don’t want to stop blogging altogether, I will just share when I can and I do appreciate this wonderful blogging community, more than you know. I can’t say enough for all the wonderful bloggers I have met through blogging. I do try and keep up reading and commenting on other blogs but apologize because it can get overwhelming sometimes. I do what I can when I can and you all are so wonderful, forgiving and caring individuals. Thank you for being you! Have a wonderful week and stay smiling. 😀

Horse Crazy Crafty Gal,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; Horsey Fun!

On February 1, 2022 By DianaIn Horse stories, weekly smile19 Comments

Welcome to my smile post as I am enjoying everything horses from this last weekend. It was a very cloudy day on Saturday, so gloomy that I actually did not feel like riding. I know a lot of people would love the cool weather but I woke up not feeling like doing much and so I went with my mood and didn’t ride. I took the opportunity to visit my horsey friend who I use to ride with and she has moved her new horse Roscoe to a new stables a few streets away but in the same town. I enjoyed my visit with her and was able to see Roscoe’s new stall and see him turned out in the arena.

As we head into Sunday I woke up to a beautiful day. The sun was bright and no clouds in sight which always makes me smile. I so enjoy sunny days and I was really motivated to do more today and ride my horses. I will tell you that I was a bit exhausted with all that I did on Sunday which is a good thing, right? I know I will sleep well. Here is all that I did as I took some photos of my day.

*Murphy is tied to a hitching post/rail. I have had him here before and he is learning to stand quietly.*

I usually use the cross-ties with Murphy which are ties that attach to each side of his head. This way he can’t move around as much with the sides of his head held straight. He can still turn his body but he also can’t try and bite me which I will say he doesn’t do any more. He use to try and bite me frequently because he is young and thinks it is a game to bite, like I am a herd mate which clearly I am not. He was really good tied to this rail except he was biting the lead rope and pulling on it and almost untied himself. I tied it so that it would not come off but in a safe manner (slip knot) if I needed to get it undone quickly. I’m so proud of him! ❤

*Here is Murphy in the cross-ties. I thought I would share so you can see the difference in the two places they need to learn to stand and be tied*.

There are horses that can’t stand tied in these cross-ties. We have some at our stables where if they are tied here they will freak out and pull back. Yes, they pull back all crazy and either snap the clips, fall down or break their halters trying to get free. It’s all a terrible mess and not safe for the horses and so those horse owners stay away from the cross-ties and never use them. It takes training and a sensible horse to learn to stand tied to any post including the first one I talked about. They can do the same thing at the straight bar hitching post and can freak out and pull back. Horses are flight animals so if they get spooked or feel trapped and feel like they need to bolt to get away, and boy they are so huge it is not fun when they get that scared. I’m very thankful that both my horses are very calm, sensible horses that do not get spooked easily and they both stand nicely tied to any cross-tie or hitching post/rail. 😀

If you are wondering what owners with horses that can’t be tied do? they teach them to ground tie, which means they teach them to stand in one place with the lead rope just hanging down to the ground. Some people just loop the rope loosely around the tie rail so they aren’t tied, but just sort of tethered loosely. Horses can feel the rope get taught, so they stand still in place. But if they get spooked and pull back the rope just slides around the rail and they are free. They don’t usually go far as they all like to stay near the herd which is all the other horses in their stalls nearby the tie area. Some people just brush and tack their horses in their stalls where there is no need to tie them to anything. These are some ways to get around complete restraint with sensitive horses that may not tie well.

*Murphy after my ride standing so very tall and being a good boy!*

After my ride I just had to take another photo. He can reach for the rope he is tied with and he just chews on it a little bit. (I would rather he chews the rope and not me! Haha!) He knows I need to brush him and pick out his hoofs. Then we walk to his stall so he can get his lunch. He loves food and looks forward to being done with all this nonsense of getting cleaned up! Haha, He would rather be dirty. It isn’t his favorite thing being brushed but he is getting much better and I can tell enjoys being out and hanging out with me each day. 😀 I find that routine is our best friend and he is very smart and I know that helps us bond!

*The weekend was fun with my stable friends!*

After taking care of Murphy and getting his lunch I got Miss Chloe out and got her ready for a trail ride with a couple of stable friends. We had a nice time and it was a gorgeous perfect day! Trail rides with friends are the best and make me smile! What makes you smile? 😀 I will end with a photo I took of Chloe and when I took the photo she was just about to sneeze! She is such a good girl, I have so many photos of her but not one where she is about to sneeze. Haha! Now I have this funny photo! Even though Saturday I didn’t feel like doing much, I ended up making up for that on Sunday where I almost did too much!

She’s just so cute and beautiful too! I hope you enjoyed my horsey post with some fun sort of educational things about how we handle the horses when needing to have them stand to be groomed and tacked up! I hope it isn’t too boring for both horse and non horsey folks. It’s so FUN to share!! I hope you all have a great week as we smile through to February!

Horse lover forever!

~Diana ❤

Smiling And Past Squares!

On October 6, 2021 By DianaIn Past Squares, weekly smile26 Comments

*I took this photo last May when I first got Murphy!* ❤

I wanted to share a smile post this week and as I thought about smiling I thought I could also share this post with Becky B’s Past Square challenge for the month of October. Since she picked the theme “past squares” we could use past photo’s from other square challenges or use things from our past that we want to share or re-share. I’ll be going through my archives to retrieve photos that I wanted to share that make me smile and they will all be selfies.

I am not sure why I like selfies so much, but I do, they make me smile 😀 and selfies and horses are hard! I should stand in front of them and then take the photo, but I usually try to squeeze their enormous head next to mine, haha, which is really difficult. It is really fun to try and here are a few more selfies!

*Murphy and I and a fly! Haha, he was so curious looking at the phone when I took this photo!* ❤

*These three photos are from summer 2020. Chloe in two and Zack’s nose in the middle! Wonderful memories, which makes me SMILE!* 😀

I am sorry the first two photos are rather huge but I made them both square. The three together are not square but I found out that’s okay. I have a few more selfies I will share and they are with my grandkids. I have slowed down my selfie taking with them partly because I’ve slowed down taking photos of them in general. I think when I visit my grandkids I am trying to spend quality time and so I don’t think to pull out the camera (my phone) and so the time zooms by while visiting. My son has been taking some awesome photos and sending them to me so I am not missing out too much. I make a photo book each year of the grandkids and so I can use his photos too!

*Here are some selfies of my grandkids, Love them and they are so silly! Love my daughter and I too, they all make me SMILE!* 😀

I just realized that I do not have any selfies of me and my sons. Guys are just busy doing their thing as I just don’t think to ask them to stand with me for a selfie. I think they would say what? Why do you want a selfie Mom! Haha, I am joking as I really don’t know what they would say but I never think to ask or make a selfie with them. I do have a few with my husband. Let me see if I can find a good one to end my post.

Oh I found one of me riding, even though my friend did not know I was taking this photo! Haha! AND my hubby and I at a beach concert last year. It was cold at the beach that evening hence why we are bundled up!

I so enjoyed sharing and as I am thinking about what makes me smile, these silly photos always bring a smile to my face. And it is great to look back into the past and re-share fun times. Oh wait, I hear Chloe asking to end this post and she says Smile, it will make you feel good! ❤

Selfie Silly Grandma,

~Diana ❤

Weekend Coffee Share; It’s October, My Favorite Month!

On October 3, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekend coffee share21 Comments

*Beautiful wild flowers blooming at my friends house in Kentucky! She is so kind and sends me photos!*

Welcome to my coffee share, can I get you a cup of coffee or tea? I am remembering summer as I share these wild flowers from my girlfriend. She has shared with me some beautiful photos of her flowers in bloom. She knows I have a LOVE for all flower photos, I could actually have a separate blog just for flowers except then I would have trouble keeping up so I’ll just share them from time to time here on this blog, my one and only blog. Can you believe it’s October? I can’t believe it as September just zipped by and here we are starting a new month. I have had Murphy for over 4 months now and he is learning and growing and is so much FUN! 😀

When Murphy arrived I took my time getting to know him as he got to know me and remember, he needed time to heal up a splint bone fracture. It is completely healed and he is perfectly sound and it is a non issue. But that time was well spent as he learned our routine. I could have done this earlier but never seemed to have enough time in my day to do some extra trimming and this weekend I was able to trim up his mane. Some people leave their manes natural and let it grow long. I prefer to have it shortened and an even length across his neck. I think it could be even shorter but that would have taken me longer and he stood so well while I spent the 30 to 40 minutes it took me to shorten his mane. When he first arrived, he did not stand still very long and was restless as he got to know our routine. Now he has gained great patience, I am very proud of him!

*Before I trimmed his mane, it’s pretty but very long!*

As I share my horsey stuff which includes riding Murphy in the arena and Miss Chloe on the trails, I am looking forward to a visit to Arizona to see my family. My daughter bought tickets to a comedian show in Arizona and is treating her brother and his wife. I asked if they needed a babysitter and they said Yes! So we will head out to AZ this coming Thursday and spend the weekend until Sunday. My son has some new games that we all can play together and Alice can join us playing some of these games too. I am looking forward to a fun game night with our visit. My son found a fun small water park for the kids and I look forward to taking them there as well. My son sent me this photo of them just the other day and I thought I would share. 😀

*They are so adorable! I know they are my grandkids, but they are so darn cute ~ how can you not smile!* ❤

Oh how they melt my heart! I have the hugest smile on my face right now! I have to say they are two such different children which makes sense. Alice is so sweet and cuddly. Loves hugs and attention. Teddy is very much the opposite, as independent as they come getting into everything and is not cuddly, so curious and very busy. Of course, he doesn’t know me as well as Alice got to know me at his age but he is all boy. Climbs up on everything and is as smart as they come. He will push chairs over to climb up on the countertop, he is such a handful and then some!! He is not even 2 yrs old yet and I would say has already had a few of those terrible twos temper tantrums. He will turn 2 in February. My goodness, they grow up fast! ❤

Thank you for visiting with me today and I so enjoyed your company. Do you have any travel plans? I am enjoying being able to have these long weekend get-a-way’s. I also am looking forward to my sister who lives in Idaho to visit again in a couple weeks. She is my horsey sister so we will have fun riding together again! Her husband is coming with her this time as he has a reunion to attend and she decided to come and visit too.

I want to thank Natalie for hosting our #weekendcoffeeshare link up and if you want to visit her blog or other weekend coffee shares I’ll add a link here. I hope you all have a wonderful week and I will see you again in two weeks time since I will be traveling this next weekend. Take care and stay safe out there!

Horse Crazy Grandma,

~Diana ❤

My Weekly Smile; End of Summer ~Aug 30th

On August 30, 2021 By DianaIn Living life, weekly smile28 Comments

*I had to use this flower again, so unusual and it makes me smile!* 😀

Welcome to my weekly smile! I have been taking a bit of a blogging break. This summer has been very busy, so different than last year right? Lot’s of family visits, which I LOVE SO MUCH! There is more visiting coming up for me as I will be heading to Colorado at the end of this week to visit my sister. I have seen her as she has come to California a few times in the last 5 years but I haven’t been to CO in about 8 years. As I am writing this I am thinking I will continue with this blogging break until I return from vacation for another week or so. Since I have some fun video’s I made to share I decided to write this post and explain my break.

When I return to blogging more regularly I’m going to give myself permission to not feel pressured to write a blog post. I feel like I can get a little OCD about writing my blog thinking I have to write and share on this link or another and then I pressure myself into thinking I am letting everyone down if I can’t keep up. Isn’t that a little crazy? Do you feel like that too, or is it just my crazy brain as I so enjoy being involved and join in. I guess I need to just take a chill pill and blog when it feels right and not worry! I’ll take my advice! Haha, I’m smiling!! 😀

It really has been nice to work on some of my crafts, and relax and not make myself crazy with pressure about my blog. This should be fun and so I am not leaving but I may post less often so that I can balance my busy life. 😀

*I Love this baby blanket pattern! I decided to try a different background color which is variegated grey, white and pink!*

I am smiling as I am finally making progress on another baby blanket I am making for a good friend and her baby girl. When I find something I love to make, I will make it in different colors and then gift it to my relatives or good friends. I have done this with fingerless mittens and scarfs, haha, I guess I get a little OCD about crochet patterns!

My daughter said that her friends colors in the nursery are pink and grey. I am thinking probably more pink than grey, and I didn’t ask for photos but as I looked through the yarn to buy I found this variegated yarn that is really pretty in person. The photo doesn’t do it justice but it is grey/white/pink. Very light pink, so light in pink that it mostly looks grey. Darn it all, it’s not really a very good baby color but I am going to finish it and I found a nice pink yarn you can see in the photo for the border. It will help bring out the pink in the grey, I hope! It’s kind of antique looking and really super cool I think. I can always keep it if I don’t think it’s worthy of gifting! Sorry about this long description, it’s just been a challenging blanket to put together with the colors I chose! 😀 Now, on to my horsey adventures!

*My sister riding Murphy for the first time! What a good boy, they look great!!*

We had so much fun riding when my sister visited this month. She drove from Idaho with her oldest son who is on Murphy. We rode out on trail with my best friend and Roscoe. My sister came for her youngest sons birthday who lives here in California not far from us and so it was so great to also have her meet Murphy! I am so proud of Murphy as he was so good with everyone and I also had some fun trail rides. (I am one of 6 kids, so it can get confusing. This sister here on Murphy is now visiting my sister in Colorado. I have a sister in Oregon and another in Northern CA. I have a brother in Reno, NV. It will take a lot of weekends away to catch up and see everyone, eventually!)

Trail riding with my best friend on Roscoe and my sister on Fashion and her son on Chloe! 😀 😀 😀

I’m smiling from ear to ear! What fun trail rides while my sister visited. My sister brought cool weather with her the week she was here! She is riding a good friend’s horse and her name is Fashion. She is a black and white paint and she is in her 20’s and knows the Norco trails well. It is really good for Murphy to go out with other horses. He wasn’t bothered by the group and with 4 of us we all had a blast!

I am in no hurry with Murphy and his training, taking one day at a time and he gets days of rest or turn out to just be a horse. I am riding him in the arena with him learning what I want him to do for me and we are working on the walk, trot and canter. He is extremely lazy, so I ask a little bit and reward him when he does what I ask of him. He is very smart and learning so fast. He is learning to move off of my leg, which means I use my leg to have him move over to pressure from either side and I use my reins as well. I won’t go into all the detail, I am just so happy he is understanding my cues and I reward with a release and a nice free walk. It is all so much FUN!! 😀

*He is really happy and has such personality! Murphy and I are bonding well. I Love this boy so much!* ❤

I can’t believe this month is ending. Where did this year go? It is really going fast so I am trying to slow down and enjoy each day. I think the last few weeks I am accomplishing this and I am finding my stride. I know one thing and that is I am looking forward to Fall and hopefully cooler weather. We have been hitting 100F(38C) too often this summer and we are expecting cooler weather this coming week. This weekend was really hot and I took a video of Murphy after I hosed him off and he likes to play with the hose and loves the water. I will end with this short video and I want to thank you so much for visiting my smile post! What makes you smile? I do love hearing from you and I thank you for reading and following my blog!!

I want to thank Trent for hosting My Weekly Smile! With the world craziness, it is great to smile at the simple things whenever possible. Have a great week!

Smiling Happy Cowgirl,

~Diana ❤

	Diana on Weekend Coffee Share; Crazy Mo…
	Diana on Weekend Coffee Share; Crazy Mo…
	workinacresnothours on Weekend Coffee Share; Crazy Mo…
	anne leueen on Weekend Coffee Share; Crazy Mo…
	Diana on Weekend Coffee Share; Crazy Mo…

Mylife-and-Horsestories

Tag: #happysmiles

My Weekly Smile; Horsey Fun!

Smiling And Past Squares!

My Weekly Smile; End of Summer ~Aug 30th